ISIS: Prime Minister Harper's top political bogeyman of the day

Canada is ready to extend its fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) into Syria, carrying on a war that’ll cost about half-a-billion taxpayer dollars by early next year. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is following up on his promise that Canada won’t “stand on the sidelines” when it comes to the fight against Muslim extremism.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Feb. 26, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Canada is ready to extend its fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) into Syria, carrying on a war that'll cost about half-a-billion taxpayer dollars by early next year. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is following up on his promise that Canada won't "stand on the sidelines" when it comes to the fight against Muslim extremism.

This kind of rhetoric has helped make ISIS into Canada's top political bogeyman as the Tory administration insists on adopting tough security measures at home as Canadian Forces fight the bad guys abroad.

The public language in support of this two-front "war on terror" has given rise to a new kind of militarism in Canada. It's characterized by a political rhetoric that galvanizes support for itself not only by pointing to a foreign enemy, but also by emphasizing the need to root out the enemy's ideological supporters on Canadian soil.

This latter emphasis has, at the hands of the Tories, become a way to depict dissent against government policy as support for Muslim terrorism.

Support for terrorism

Take the debate around Bill C-51 (the "Anti-terrorism Act"), the Conservative's proposal on how to fight domestic terrorism. The bill is making its way through the legislative process with limited debate and examination, despite containing provisions that will, according to a chorus of critics, forever change the landscape of Canadian national security. Its supporters emphasize the imminent nature of an ill-defined terrorism threat, keeping in mind that security issues will likely occupy the minds of voters in the upcoming fall election.

A woman wears a niqab as she walks Monday, September 9, 2013 in Montreal. (The Canadian Press)

This process is now essentially an exploitation of the current climate of fear engendered primarily by images of ISIS's bloody exploits, combined with memories of recent, high-profile incidents of violent extremism in cities like Ottawa, Sydney, and Paris. It is a convergence of the foreign and domestic policy agendas in a way that casts "Muslim terror" as the enemy, often without bothering to differentiate between Islam's peaceful followers and those who have been radicalized.

This monolithic representation is calculated to yield political results. A recent poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute shows that 44 per cent of participating Canadians hold a "negative" view of Muslims. This kind of public opinion should give confidence to those who want to use unsubstantiated accusations and assertions to malign Muslims for political gain.

No niqab

Harper's hardline stance against allowing Muslim women to wear the face-veil (niqab) during citizenship ceremonies is just one case-in-point. Without acknowledging that the niqab isn't even a universally accepted concept within Islam, the prime minister said in the House of Commons last month that the practice is "rooted in a culture that is anti-women."

He didn't bother to clarify which culture he had in mind, leaving it up to the public imagination to decide what he was implying. Days later, Tory MP Larry Miller had to publicly apologize after he told women who wear the niqab to "stay the hell where you came from" on a radio show.

Still more ridiculous is Defence Minister Jason Kenney's decision to use International Women's Day to tweet what he claimed are photographs of women being led off in chains by ISIS.

On <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IWD2015?src=hash">#IWD2015</a>, thank-you to the <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianForces">@CanadianForces</a> for joining the fight against <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISIL?src=hash">#ISIL</a>'s campaign to enslave women &amp; girls <a href="http://t.co/PyVHHrhLD7">pic.twitter.com/PyVHHrhLD7</a>

It was later revealed that the photos had nothing to do with ISIS, and were actually depictions of Shia Muslims commemorating the death of the Prophet's family in a ceremony.

Muddying the waters

This kind of political messaging and decision-making helps to confuse the already-unclear public representation of Canadian Muslims and their beliefs. Nonetheless, it's the kind of confusion that allows those within the Muslim community who question the government's security policies to be easily antagonized.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) got a taste of this during last month's borderline-farcical parliamentary hearings on Bill C-51, when executive director Ihsaan Gardee had to reply to Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy's question of whether his group supports terrorism.

Ablonczy was referring to an unsubstantiated rumour, but she succeeded in turning the nature and focus of the discussion away from Bill C-51's more problematic provisions. Instead, Muslims like Gardee are forced to defend against a process that seeks to represent their community in a way that places them within the ideological orbit of groups like ISIS.

Political language that demonizes an entire segment of the domestic population is helping to reinforce the Tories' pro-war rhetoric against ISIS, and vice-versa. These parallel narratives have increasingly given rise to the most recent form of Canadian militarism, a jingoistic aggression that uses racial bullying at home to bolster support for questionable foreign interventions.

Steven Zhou is a Toronto-based journalist and writer focusing on security issues and post-9/11 politics.

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